The United Kingdom Home Secretary James Cleverly has said that international students may be using the country’s graduate route visa as a cheap way of getting work visas, The Guardian reported.

“We want to ensure the Graduate route is not being abused. In particular, that some of the demand for study visas is not being driven more by a desire for immigration rather than education,” he said in a letter sent to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) in which he asked for a review of the graduate route visa.

The UK allows foreigners to stay in the country despite not having a work offer from a UK employer. However, they must have a graduate visa which will allow them to live in the UK for at least two years.

According to Cleverly, the evaluation was aimed at examining the potential misuse of graduate route visas.

He warned that the reputation of universities in the country could be damaged if evidence emerged of immigration abuse or visa exploitation.

Quoting an annual report of MAC, the UK home minister highlighted a rise in the proportion of international students enrolled at lower tariff institutions, which reached 32% in 2021/22.

“We are keen to understand the drivers behind this, including whether it is because people are using these courses as a long-term route to work in the UK,” Cleverly wrote in the letter.

It is pertinent to mention that the UK government in May 2023 announced that it would bar postgraduate master students to bring dependents to the country.

In his letter, Cleverly asked the MAC to complete the review by May 14 which will include investigation of potential proof of misuse of the.

The review will also include statistics and trends of international students obtaining a study visa and later entering UK job market through the graduate route.